Ubuntu 8.04 'Hardy Heron' review

The beta of the next version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system has arrived, although judging by its stability and polish you'd be hard pressed to tell it's a testing release.

By
Neil McAllister, InfoWorld
| Mar 31, 2008| IDG News Service

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Canonical Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Specs

300MHz x86 processor (700MHz x86 recommended)

64MB RAM (384MB)

4GB (8GB) disk space

VGA graphics card capable of 640x480 (1024x768) resolution

CD-ROM drive or network card

sound card and internet connection recommended

Canonical Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Price

RRP: FREE

The beta of the next version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system has arrived, although judging by its stability and polish you'd be hard pressed to tell it's a testing release.

Ubuntu 8.04, code-named "Hardy Heron", is scheduled to be an LTS (Long Term Support) edition, and you can tell its developers have worked diligently to make it worthy of the title.

Ubuntu, the leading desktop Linux OS, has settled into a stable look and feel over the past few releases, and this time the cosmetic changes are minor. The familiar brown and orange colour scheme remains, as does the overall fit and finish of the windows and controls.

Under the hood, however, Ubuntu 8.04 has improved considerably. Between a new kernel, a new version of the Gnome desktop, improved windowing and graphics layers, and a number of default configuration tweaks, nearly everything about Hardy Heron feels snappier and more responsive than the previous version. Windows and menus feel less sluggish, disk access is improved, and programs launch more quickly. Hardy Heron even boots faster.

Installation itself may be Hardy Heron's biggest revelation. This release offers a new, optional installation utility called Wubi, which promises to lower the barrier to entry considerably.

Wubi runs as a Windows application and can install a complete Ubuntu system as a single file on a Windows hard disk. There's no need to re-partition your drive and no risk of wiping out your existing data. When you boot into Ubuntu, the system reads and writes to the file as if it were a standalone drive.

Later, if you decide that Linux isn't for you, you can uninstall it like any other Windows application.

Ubuntu's own application suite has also been updated for version 8.04. Most notably, Firefox 3.0 - itself still in beta - will be the default browser that ships with the OS, and it looks to be a promising upgrade.

Other new applications, such as the Brasero CD/DVD burning software, feel lacklustre when compared to similar software for Windows or Mac OS X. But overall, Ubuntu continues to provide a good selection of applications for most purposes, without overloading the system with excessive and redundant software options as some Linux distributions do.